I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the installation of telecommunication hardware for facilitating the routing and connection of data carrying cables to communication equipment. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a modular panel for providing an interface between data carrying cables and terminal devices.
II. Description of the Related Art
Terminal block panels are hardware devices used in the communication equipment industry to connect cables to terminal equipment contained within an environment, e.g. office suites, apartment buildings, etc. The panels are typically available to accommodate 900 wire pair and 300 wire pair configurations and are often mounted to a wall situated within a closet in the equipment environment. The panels contain a securing surface that is affixed or fastened to the closet wall, and a mounting surface configured into a plurality of tangs upon which connecting devices such as connecting blocks are secured. The connecting blocks interface data carrying cables such as exterior cables that route data to and from the environment, to cables connected to, for example, terminal devices.
To accommodate the data carrying cables, existing terminal block panels are configured to form a trough between the securing surface and the mounting surface through which a portion of the data carrying cables are routed. The terminal block panels are constructed as standard sized components and, therefore, the dimensions of the trough formed therein (e.g. the length and width of the trough) is fixed. However, with ever-increasing demands for data carrying capacity of communications systems, the number of cables as well as the cable dimensions (e.g. cable diameter) required to meet this demand also increase, thus requiring more trough space which is, in many instances, unavailable using currently available apparatus.